Past and Present
by Reese S. Quill
Summary: "Well, we /are/ old friends." Snippets of two boys' pasts before they came to the 3-E Class.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Completely anime-verse; I haven't read the Manga yet, so I only know a few details from that.**

* * *

Karma had always been a different child.

Once, his mother caught his older cousins showing him a movie with violence of epic proportions - and scolded them with a severity that had them in tears within minutes. However, they held on to their odd claim that Karma hadn't been with them in the first place; he had snuck among them when they weren't paying attention. The accusation stopped his mother in her tracks. Karma always was good at sneaking into things.

Another incident was when both his parents caught him playing knives. Unlike most children his age, the toddler did not dangerously thrust the edge in every direction he could muster. No; he studied the blade as lovingly as if it was the most expensive of toys, swiped the weapon in the air as well as a trained assassin.

That did it for them. The earliest it was deemed possible, they enrolled him in the most prestigious school, and later junior high, in the district; one with such a rigorous program that it would consume Karma all hours of the day and, hopefully, fix whatever mistake they had made in raising the boy.

It seemed like a good plan.

But it left the child - for he _was_ still a child - wondering what was wrong with him.


	2. Chapter 2

Nagisa was also different, but in another way.

In another household, this part of him would probably have never manifested. He would have grown up safe, happy, loved; his guard would have been down, and he'd have found no use for the innate gift he'd been given.

But he _was_ born in that household, and the only reason he survived was because of that gift - the killer survival instincts that helped him adapt over the years to the environment that was strewn with hate and abuse.

Not to say that he was violent. Perhaps he was, in a way - buried deep in his heart of hearts, he had a bloodlust that wouldn't be wakened until years later - but for the most part, Nagisa treasured peace when he could find it, and was an overall serene and docile little boy.

This did not please his parents, who entrusted the foreboding chain of Kenugigaoka schools to give him an edge that he already, secretly, had.


	3. Chapter 3

Karma started in the D Class.

His parents had warned the school about his violent behavior, and the administration decided to start him at the almost-bottom, just in case. If the boy showed promise, he would have a chance to redeem himself, albeit a small one; and if he was, as most of them suspected, an impulsive wreck, it would be simple enough to transfer him to the very bottom, where he would have no hope of returning.

At first, it seemed that it was going to be the latter. Karma's devil-may-care, cold demeanor did not attract his classmates, who all sensed something _off_ about the boy.

Karma, for his part, defiantly kept up his old ways. He threw in the air the knives he'd slipped from the kitchen. He stared at people with a manic gleam in his eyes. If he was paying attention to the teacher, he didn't show it. He saw no reason to change for a bunch of kids he didn't care about.

Then the grade results came, and the whole class was in an uproar.

Karma Akabane had come out on top.

Because Karma was clever. He saw patterns where people only saw abstracts, created plans and schemes in his head when his classmates only daydreamed about tugging the pigtails of the girls that they liked. What interested him, he pursued because it fascinated him - and it was not like anyone else was going to give him the answers he wanted. Nearly _everything_ fascinated him.

It turned out that kind of mind-set was useful in the close-to-impossible exams, and before he knew it, Karma was surrounded by questions and inquiries on how he'd achieved such a glorious feat. Classmates who'd previously been turned off now smiled at him, invited him to play, begged him to tutor them. Teachers who had cut him down sharply because of his behavior now turned a blind eye in how he acted.

 _Oh,_ Karma thought. _Now I see._

Everything had a price; and as disturbing and abnormal as people found him, the chance to be liked and revered was still there. The price of being himself, it seemed, was to get as many high grades and honours as possible.

Well. He was up to the challenge.


	4. Chapter 4

Nagisa, unbelievably, started in the A Class.

No matter how much his mother drilled into him what a useless waste of space he was at home, she was exuberant with his praise at school, predicting that he would soon be one of the academy's top students. The administration was won over by the the woman's commendations, and they set Nagisa up in the most bloodthirsty of classrooms.

It was hell.

No matter how hard he tried, Nagisa simply couldn't get a grip on the strange, theoretical concepts that they discussed. The details flew from his brain as soon as they were inserted.

The teachers gave him chance after chance. In spite of everything, the quiet, diligent student had a gentleness about him that they liked because it contrasted so drastically with the rest of the group's fiery determination to crush each other. After-school tutoring sessions were offered; make-up tests were scheduled again and again and again.

It was no use. Nagisa was good at observations - he knew to keep to the right of the hall when Satsuke was barreling through, he knew when to duck when one of the girls tried to photobomb the class, found all the right ways to make himself appear as inoffensive as possible to his classmates. He agreed wholeheartedly that knowledge was power.

But only the knowledge that helped him survive.


	5. Chapter 5

By the time they were in their first year of junior high, Karma and Nagisa were in the same class; but in very different ends of the spectrum. Karma was the rising star. Nagisa was the repeating disappointment.

Karma was the same as he always was - nonchalant, collected. He still whipped up blades from under his sleeve. He still had the crazy grin that had those he intimidated scouring in different directions.

But Nagisa wasn't one of them.

The blunette had noticed something in the first day they had class together. One of their classmates, Kyo, had delighted in throwing spitballs and crushed pieces of paper in Nagisa's hair. Nagisa had ignored him; their teacher at that lesson was not one who welcomed interruptions, and he figured that the risk of being shot down and reprimanded in front of the class was greater than his mother finding him vigorously washing his hair later on.

Then:

" _Ow!_ "

The class whipped around.

Kyo's face was contorted, and he was clutching the back of his head. Upon further observation, it seemed that half-a-dozen paperclips had wedged themselves in his scalp. Little droplets of blood had slowly begun to pour out.

Nagisa watched the teacher scan the room for guilty culprits. The teacher raised his eyebrows when he caught the eye of one student, and then turned back to Kyo. "Better take that to the nurse," he said non-committedly.

Nagisa turned to the direction the teacher had looked at.

A red-haired boy leaned against his chair, twirling a single paper-clip with a smile.


	6. Chapter 6

The more Nagisa observed, the more curious he became.

The red-haired boy - _Karma,_ they called him, and what a fitting name that was turning out to be - was crazy smart, able to put the pieces together even before others realized there was a puzzle.

He spent most lunches by the side of a table, silently basking in others' fawning praise.

He was brilliant at picking things up, whether it was a physical activity or a mental one.

His favorite type of juice was strawberry.

More prominent than anything else, however - Karma was vicious. Scary. When he spoke about schemes and plans, it appeared that he had no boundaries when it came to violence or hurting people, and had no problems in carrying said plans out.

Except, he only did to the people he thought deserved it.

Nagisa had been watching him for a while, and the most interesting pattern he noticed was that Karma never picked on the weakest or most bullied of the kids. More likely, he went after the bullies themselves; the tormentors, tortured in their turn. No one else seemed to have noticed, however, and even the people he rescued tended to avoid eye-contact with the red-head.

Karma didn't care, and that made Nagisa like him all the more.


	7. Chapter 7

It took Karma a while to notice Nagisa, mostly because the latter was so subtle.

Whether Karma was at a table, lounging languidly while others showered him with praise, or alone, in such a mood that no one else would dare come near him, Nagisa was always there at the outskirts. Most of the time, it amused him; was the shorter boy a fan too wonderstruck to speak to him? A student hopeful who was trying to pick up a few tips?

Some of the time, it irritated him.

This was when he was playing with knives, when he was reading a book about deadly weapons and war strategies, when he was doodling drawings so bloody that they scarred the viewers' eyes. When everyone else looked away, Nagisa kept on watching; and it pinched at Karma, like an itch he couldn't scratch, what exactly was it that Nagisa thought.

One day, he asked him.

It was a sunny day at the open court, and most of their classmates were running around and enjoying themselves. Karma stood by the shade of the wall. Nagisa was a few paces away, engrossed - _or pretending to be engrossed?_ \- in a comic book. He kept glancing up when Karma flipped a knife in the air.

"If it's bothering you, why don't you go somewhere safer?" Karma said in annoyance.

Nagisa put down his comic book. His cheeks flamed red, embarrassed at being caught looking. "Sorry," he said. "I, uh - I wanted to watch."

"Me throwing knives?"

"...yes."

"If it's a show you want, you'll get a better view of you sit over there."

Karma gestured to a place significantly - almost uncomfortably - closer. He was sure that Nagisa would bolt; but to his surprise, the boy took him up on his offer, tucking the comic book to his side and sitting cross-legged at the space indicated. A little taken aback himself, Karma carried on what he was doing, tossing the potentially deadly weapon higher and higher into the air.

Nagisa watched, fascinated.

Karma was unused to such an enthralled audience - when it came to this kind of thing, at least - and part of his mischievous, prideful side crept out. "So, is _that_ why you've stalking me all that time? You wanted to see me play with these?" He made a swift cutting motion.

Nagisa blinked. "Uh, n-no."

"Hmm." Karma smirked. "If I were to guess, I'd say you have a crush on me."

" _What_? _No_!" If Nagisa had been blushing before, it was nothing compared to now. His entire head was different shades of crimson, and he was trying - horribly - to cover it up with his hands. "No! I'm a guy, I swear!" And then he put his hands over his mouth, because he couldn't believe that those words just flew out of it.

Karma laughed so hard, he dropped his knife. "Good of you to clarify," he said. "It was hard to tell."

Nagisa was still covering his face.

Karma leaned down. "Well, if it's not that - why _have_ you been stalking me?"

Nagisa was visibly willing himself to reply. He took deep breaths until the red in his cheeks cooled into a bright pink. "You seem, uh - safe."

"Safe? _Me_?"

"Like you wouldn't try to harm a random passerby."

"Well, it's no fun to target the weak." Karma eyed the timid boy. "So it's protection you want?"

Nagisa shook his head. "If I wanted that, I'd have sat near the teachers." And ostracized by their peers as a wimp, but it's what the very scared of their batch-mates did. "I'm not scared, Akabane," the blunette said firmly.

"Karma," he corrected, and the blunette smiled hesitantly. Karma _had_ noticed that. Nagisa never backed down when the bigger guys wanted to beat him up - he just accepted it, a serene, barely-jerking rag doll until they grew tired and left him bruised on the ground.

"You're different," Nagisa said. "I don't know. It's interesting to watch you. You're - you're likeable."

The red-head couldn't resist. "Are you sure you don't have a crush on me?"

 _"Karma!"_ The blunette was turning fifty shades of scarlet again.

Karma bared his feral grin; but inside, his mind was in utter turmoil. Whatever he expected, it wasn't this.

Everything had a price. To make up for his personality that so frightened others, he had to be smart, or at the very least good-looking. That was the standard he had - and held - for everybody. It _worked_.

Yet what the blue-haired, blue-eyed boy was telling him was just the Nagisa felt safe around him, that he liked him, precisely _because_ Karma was being himself. It was a dizzying thought, and one that he fully intended to analyze when he was in a quiet place without distractions. As it was, the school bell was ringing, their classmates were entering the hall, and the blunette was following them, clutching his comic book with electric nervousness.


	8. Chapter 8

After that, Karma slipped himself in Nagisa's days with almost terrifying ease.

Nagisa wasn't sure what he'd done to make such an impression on the red-head, but from that time when he talked to him in the open court, they hung out together like it was the most normal thing in the world. One time, Karma seated himself on Nagisa's solitary table and chatted offhandedly about how warm the weather was getting. Another time, Nagisa found Karma by his side on the way home, the taller boy citing a curiosity to see where he lived. Then there was that one incident in the library, a few days before a test, when Nagisa was seconds short from a nervous breakdown.

"Hey," Karma said, leaning from across the table. His tone was more inquisitive than concerned. "What's the problem, Nagisa? it's not like the questions are going to eat you."

"You don't understand," Nagisa moaned. "My mother is going to kill me. The teacher is going to kill me. This is my last chance, and if I don't past this test, I'll end up in the E Class for sure _._ "

"Is _that_ all?" With a flick of his wrist, Karma caught the book Nagisa was poring over.

"Hey!"

"Hmm, this isn't so bad. English is simple, once you get into it."

"Easy for you to say! You're a genius!"

"I am," Karma acknowledged. "But you don't have to be a genius to pass this test." As a response, Nagisa slumped his blue head on the table. "No, really." Karma poked the despairing boy. He wedged the book under his face. "See that word? It's a proper noun. But you put an apostrophe and an _s_ after it to make it possessive..."

To Nagisa's utter astonishment, Karma was a patient teacher, and a good one. The red-head realized fast that abstract concepts weren't going to go far with Nagisa, so he adjusted his style a little - something that their teachers, no matter how understanding they were of Nagisa, would never have done - and started using analogies of their classmates. He described 'Bermuta's big stomach' and 'the tiny boobs of Surma', until Nagisa was telling him to stop and insisting that he got it, yes, he got it.

He did. Nagisa passed the test with flying colours.

A few more incidents like that, and it was safe for both of them to say that they'd become friends. Nagisa didn't startle anymore whenever Karma waved him over, and even eventually drummed up to courage to invite the red-head over to eat lunch or watch movies. Karma tutored him for the rest of the year; and got his reward when, after final exams, they found out they'd still be sharing a class.


	9. Chapter 9

Things were different when they reached second year.

Not between them - by some miracle, both of them were able to maintain their odd friendship, and found a sort of safety from the rest of the world because of it.

But people looked at them differently, now.

Nagisa's gentle nature was fast becoming a hindrance instead of an asset, especially as he'd slowly been edging closer to a surprisingly high ranking. The classmates that had thought him a docile little puppy now stared at him with the madness of jealousy in their eyes; only Karma's constant presence did anything to diffuse their behavior. Nagisa was grateful. He had meant what he said when he told him he wasn't scared, but when given the choice, he'd rather not be beaten to pulp.

Karma, on the other hand, was garnering more attention - both for his violence and for his brilliant grades. The latter, as always, outshone the darkness of his former; as he gleefully told Nagisa one day, the homeroom teacher had even taken him aside and told him that "as long as he was in the right", he'd stand by him.

Nagisa smiled nervously, but asked, "Don't you think that kind of deal is difficult to maintain? I mean - what if you go too far?"

Karma laughed. "I know how this works. As long as your grades are brilliant, Nagisa, you can never go too far."

That attention wasn't limited to the teachers. Being the top in the B Class, the second-highest ranking class in the school, was enough to garner their peers' attention as well; especially those of A Class, who were forever on the lookout for possible classmates and competition.

The day after midterms when Karma scored top in class again, Gakushu Asano called forth his group, the best of the best, on their plan to welcome the red-head's almost inevitable introduction to their class.


	10. Chapter 10

"Really, Asano? _Him_?"

"I thought it was quite obvious. He has the best grades in the B Class, and his teacher is constantly recommending him; of course we have to consider that he'll be with us next year."

"With the class? Or with us _with us_?"

"Both, possibly. I've heard he's more than clever."

"But he's so..."

"Yes?"

"Agressive."

"Well. Aren't we all?"

"You know what I mean. We may rough up the kids from Class E time to time, but Akabane is hard-core and picks out victims randomly."

"I think if you pay attention, Akabane's a lot more predictable with his victims than you'd think."

"What?"

"Nothing. The point is, his aggressiveness, as you put it, is not detriment to his being here. If anything, it should prove an asset to us. We can use that kind of stamina."

"What about that blue-haired kid he hangs out with?"

"What about him?"

"I thought you demanded absolute loyalty to the class, especially with us at the top rankings."

"Of course."

"Don't you think Akabane would get distracted, constantly tutoring him? We've looked up the kid's - Nagisa's - records, and he doesn't have the chops to survive the A Class. Not without someone holding his hand."

"That's not a problem. We'll make sure to deal with that before Akabane gets here."


	11. Chapter 11

Nagisa was late.

This was an unusual happenstance - the blunette was as punctual as the moon, and it was Karma, more often than not, dawdling and wandering off when the mood struck him. Yet here he was, on time when his friend wasn't, and the red-head shifted through a book of nuclear weapons, legs crossed on the table and head leaning on the chair comfortably.

"Hello. You must be Akabane."

"Karma," he replied automatically. He didn't bother glancing up.

"I'm Gakushu Asano." The class president waited for the shock and the fawning, the same reaction he'd gotten from everyone else he'd approached.

To his surprise, Karma simply flipped a page. "How nice for you."

"I'm the Chairman's son," he expanded.

"I see. And what's the Chairman's son doing talking to a lowly B Class student?"

"I've come," he said, "to welcome you to my class."

This time, Karma did look up. "Oh, is it confirmed already?"

"Not at all. But with your grades, I think we can both assume you'll be starting senior year there."

A smirk appeared on the red-head's lips, and he finally put the book down. "Yeah, probably. I haven't heard of any welcome committee, though. Is this a new thing your father designed or," Karma quirked an eyebrow, "do you have an ulterior motive?"

"Right to the point, I see." Asano smiled. "I like that. We've observed that you had exceptional grades, that's all, and ever since I became class president, things have been - different, in the A Class."

"How so?"

"While competition still has its place within our class, we've decided it's not the most important thing. We value collaboration and competency more than any foolish rivalry that a lower student could exploit."

Karma laughed. "I don't need _collaboration_." Nor did he want any, for that matter. He worked well alone, and when he achieved something, he savoured the knowledge that the victory was his and only his.

"Why don't you give it a try?"Asano pressed. "Come on, Akabane. It couldn't hurt."

"It could." Karma's tone gained a dangerous edge, and Asano seemed to realize that friendly persuasiveness wasn't going to do anything here. He changed tactics.

"You've considered the benefits you'd get in joining us, I suppose?"

"Let me guess. The light of your brilliant presence?"

"Control. Invincibility. Reverence." Asano ticked each perk one by one on his fingers. "You may think you have that now, Akabane, but trust me - it's nothing like being one of the A Class. Everyone would respect you, no matter what you did."

 _A guarantee of power,_ Karma surmised; and if he was honest with himself, the idea was not unappealing.

Behind his back - because no one would dare say it to his face - there had always been whispers about how he was dangerous, how he was volatile and out of control, and how that somehow made him a monster. Deep down, all of them wanted to see him crash and burn; and it would him such delicious satisfaction to see their hopes destroyed once he was raised in the A Class, accepted and mingling with the best of the best.

"Come on, Akabane. Sit with us for an hour. Like I said, it couldn't hurt."

Karma's mouth twitched upwards, and he leaned back, considering the idea.

Sitting with the top students, even before he was officially one of them, would be a testament, a trophy, on how far he'd come. And Karma liked collecting trophies.

But.

"As tempting as that offer is," Karma said, "I'm still waiting for a friend."

"It's fine, Karma."

The red-head turned around. Nagisa had finally arrived, looking more flushed than usual - had he been running? - but calm. He gave him a smile. "I'll be fine studying for this test by myself. You already taught me the basic concepts, anyway."

"Are you sure? I don't _have_ to leave."

"I'm fine, Karma. I'll ace this test, easy."

"But-"

"So it's settled, then." Asano stood up and clapped Karma on the back, earning an irritated flinch. He didn't mind it. "Come on, Akabane, we're sitting at the cafeteria."

"Right." The red-head glanced at Nagisa. "I'll catch up with you later, I guess?"

The blunette smiled again, watching the most successful of students lead his best friend out the door.

"...I guess."


	12. Chapter 12

"Hey! Hey! Give that back!"

Nagisa was sprinting as fast as he could, chasing after a burly from the A Class who had stolen his schoolbag. The contents weren't valuable, but his mother would pitch a screaming fit if it ended up ripped or torn or, heaven help him, stolen. He raced up several floors to the emptier part of the Main Building, dashing straight into a classroom without looking in.

The door slammed shut behind him.

Nagisa halted, eyes wide, realizing the terrible mistake he just made.

"Relax, Shiota," someone said. He looked back. The burly and another person, a greasy-haired student also from the A Class, smirked at him. "We're not here to beat you up."

Nagisa noted that the windows were locked as well.

"Truly, we aren't." The two came closer. Nagisa stood shock-still. "This is just a friendly discussion between classmates."

The blunette bit his lip. "What do you want?"

"It's more of a statement of fact, rather than anything we actually want," the burly replied.

His friend nodded. "You're holding Karma Akabane back."

"What?" Nagisa looked up. "No, I'm not."

"Shiota. He's been tutoring you for months. You were a drowning wreck, and he's practically tying you on a lifeboat - at the cost of his own life, of course."

Despite his protests, Nagisa felt his heart sinking. "His grades have been great..."

"But not perfect. You know he can do better." The greasy-hared boy spread out his hands. "Is there a way to make this sound tactful? I suppose there isn't. You're not good enough for him," he stated bluntly. "Akabane has the grades that can get him into the A Class, maybe even further than that-" Nagisa blinked, recognizing the boy as one of the Five Virtuosos "-And even if you were, by his help and some miracle, able to get up there with him, you'd still be dragging him down."

Nagisa swallowed. "What do you want?" he repeated.

"Nothing much," the student replied. "Our dear class president, Asano, is talking to him in the library as we speak. We'll be giving him a taste of the considerable benefits he will receive when he officially joins us, and in time, he will seek us out of his own volition. All you have to do is to stay out of the way. Do you understand?"

The blunette kept his eyes on the floor.

"...I guess."


	13. Chapter 13

Gaining absolute loyalty, Gakushu Asano had learned, was easier than expected.

That it was necessary was an unquestionable fact to him. No one can succeed without their full attention on the prize.

First, you isolate them. You destroy all their little hobbies and interests, and friends if you must - convince them that they are mere distractions, that they cannot possibly have anything to offer. You must teach the person to look down at their former dalliances; or, in the cases of some, associate them with anger and rejection so as they never even _want_ to think about their past.


	14. Chapter 14

It started out simple.

* * *

Refusals on time spent together. Missed study sessions in the library. Karma's phone calls, answered with quick, insincere apologies.

* * *

A teasing tone. "How much of that lesson did you actually understand?"

A quiet one. "Um, all of it. It's okay, I don't need your help, Karma."

"Are you sure? He was going a little fast-"

"I don't your help."

* * *

"I thought you wanted to see that superhero movie."

"Oh. I I-don't really like those things anymore."

"What? Really? Have you finally realized how cheesy they are?"

"Something like that. See you."

* * *

"Do you feel like eating in the cafeteria today?"

"I have to go home early. Sorry."


	15. Chapter 15

Nagisa's blue eyes avoided the questioning ones of the red-head. He ignored Karma's inquiries, the offers of help, the invitations to just hang out like they used to. He forced himself not to think about the briefly hurt look on his friend's face, appearing just for an instant before it was replaced again by the stony, expressionless mask. _I'm holding you back_ , he wanted desperately to say. _You can do so much better._


	16. Chapter 16

Karma, for his part, was more than a little angry.

What right did that blunette have, saying that he felt safe around him and then now suddenly turning tail whenever he walked in a room?

Was he just like everyone else, after all? Getting what he wanted from him - in his case, probably the stupid tutoring sessions he'd done to make sure Nagisa was up to scratch - and then running the other direction as soon as he was satisfied?

He didn't want to believe it.


	17. Chapter 17

Eventually, Nagisa stopped answering altogether.

Eventually, Karma stopped calling.


	18. Chapter 18

The next step is to make yourself the answer, and Gakushu Asano was well-practiced in this.

You become the glorious beacon of hope to them, the personification of all things good and positive. You give comfort when a person has been rejected; you offer tutoring sessions on a specialized skill when the fun hobby is no longer possible. When you were once the alternative, an option they could take if they felt like it, now you become their god; and they will fight for your attention with a hundred times more effort than you ever took gaining theirs.

Such was his strategy before; and now again, for Karma Akabane and Nagisa Shiota.


	19. Chapter 19

"That's just the way the world works," Asano told Karma. Since being ditched repeatedly by Nagisa, the red-head decided he didn't really have anything better to do; so, he sat with the A Class. He rather enjoyed the looks envy he got from his other classmates, even if it didn't quite fill the empty space inside. "Some people are just like that. He's not worth getting hung over, Akabane."

The red-head chewed his lip thoughtfully. "Perhaps not."


	20. Chapter 20

Nagisa was body-slammed onto a locker.

The two bullies laughed. Both were from the B Class - one thin and glasses-clad, the other chubby with curly hair - and both had wanted to do this for a very, very long time. "Poor Nagisa," one of them crooned. "Akabane finally got tired of him, and now there's no one for him to hide behind."

The chubby one grabbed the blunette and tossed him on the floor.

Normally, Nagisa would have stayed silent until the beating was over. The bullies, though, had managed to hit something - there was a sickening _crack_ on his collarbone, and everything started swimming green, yellow, and red. He cried out.

The other student grabbed Nagisa by the collar and raised him high. His hand clenched into a fist, intent in punching him in the face and, in his opinion, giving him what he richly deserved.

Then something grabbed his head.

"AAAH! EEK!"

Karma Akabane was holding the two bullies by the hair.

Nagisa was dropped in the floor. Part of him knew that he should go; that he should grab his schoolbag and run home, before Karma could say anything to him. But the pain hurt so bad, and he could barely crawl to a corner without whimpering.

"You two are pathetic," Karma said coldly. "Let's see how thick those skulls are, hmm?" He smashed the two together, instantly knocking them out cold. He tossed their bodies away from him and rubbed his hands, as if he didn't want to get infected by their patheticness. His eyes caught Nagisa's.

The blunette turned his to the floor. "Thanks," he whispered.

"Does it hurt?" Karma asked. He stepped forward to help him, and then hesitated.

"I-it's not so bad. Probably nothing I can't sleep off." With great difficulty, Nagisa pulled himself to his feet.

Karma leaned down to pick up the blunette's schoolbag to the floor. The bullies had left it open; its contents spilled on to the ground. "Damn," he swore, and then went on his hands and knees to pick it up. "Sorry-"

"It's fine-" Nagisa hastily tried to take the things himself.

Karma paused, staring at a piece of paper he was holding.

The blunette had finished packing overall. He zipped his bag up, blew out his breath, and then glanced back at the red-head. "Uh, Karma, can I please have that back-"

"You're failing."

That wasn't the response he expected. Nagisa tilted his head, trying to look at what Karma had found. It was his report card.

He flushed. "Um..."

"You're failing," Karma repeated, staring at the blunette.

Nagisa blinked, anxiety bubbling in his stomach.

With the bullies, there had been cold disdain on Karma's face, the expression he reserved for vermin not worth his attention. But now there was true anger - and hurt, because this seared at him more deeply than anything else ever could. "And even then," he continued slowly, "you didn't let me help you?"

"I..."

"I thought you were using me." Karma approached the blunette in a careful walk, and Nagisa didn't dare slip away. His heart was racing, an animal cornered. "I thought that you'd gotten what you wanted, so you left. But that wasn't it, was it? You were being crushed, and you still didn't ask for help."

"Karma, I-"

" _Why are you avoiding me?_ "

It was Karma who pressed him against the locker this time, his hands digging into Nagisa's shoulders and his yelled words cutting into him like a knife. Both of them were breathing hard. " _Are you scared of me after all_?"

"Karma-"

 _"Am I a monster to you too?"_

"No! Of course not!"

"Then why-"

"I'm not good enough for you!"

The red-head let go of him.

Nagisa was taking quick, short breaths. Hot tears pricked at his eyes, but he refused to let them fall. "I'm not good enough," he murmured. "Everyone knows that you're going to be something special - you already are - and I'm- I'm just holding you back."

Silence.

And then:

"Who told you that?"

Nagisa looked up. The rage that had contorted Karma's face had not cooled one bit; if anything, he only looked angrier.

"Actually, Nagisa, don't answer. I know _exactly_ who would say that to you."


	21. Chapter 21

"Karma," Asano greeted him as he approached the lunch table. "You're late. What happened? Did a teacher hold you back for praising your work?"

The smile on his face was fake. The wave that he gave him was fake. Everything about Gakushu Asano oozed superficiality, and Karma should have known that from the very beginning. "You told Nagisa to get out of the way," he stated without preamble.

To his satisfaction, Asano's smile vanished. "What do you mean?"

"Exactly what I said." Karma leaned forward, placing his arms on the chair right across from Asano. All the table's occupants looked from the class president to the batch's prodigy. "You're probably going to deny it, but that's completely fine. You and I and he know the truth, and that's what matters. Thank you for the lunches, _class president,_ but I won't be eating with you any longer." Karma pushed the chair back and turned to go.

Asano grabbed his arm. "Akabane," he said, all cheerfulness. "You're making a mistake."

"Excuse me?"

"You've been with us for weeks, now. You know what we have to offer. You can't tell me you didn't like it."

Karma's lips firmed.

Asano spread out his hands. "You've been with us long enough for us to know that you had a fair amount of enjoyment, sharing our, shall we say, admiration for our prowess. The student body respects us, and by extension - you."

"True."

The headmaster's son blinked, caught off-guard by that concession.

"I'm not stupid enough to deny that I liked it," Karma said. "The _admiration_ you get from the students here borders on worship."

"I'm glad you see the truth of that, Karma."

"The thing is," Karma said, "it's the same ballgame I've always been playing."

Asano raised an eyebrow. The others at the table looked at each other in confusion. Karma chuckled. "You do know," the red-head said, "that all the adoration and amazement you've been getting has only been based on your scores and academic excellence?"

"Which is no small thing."

"Agreed." Karma made eye-contact with his audience. "But see, if ever one of you was to, I don't know, slip-" And with that, the red-head pushed a glass cup from off the table "-you'd completely shatter."

The students shrieked and squealed as the shards of glass flew. Asano barely blinked. "Is that not true for everyone? If you fall, you can hardly expect someone to catch you."

"That's the standard I held for everyone. If my grades were ever to become less than satisfactory, you'd drop me in an instant. That's exactly what it is, in your class and in _all others_ in this school." Karma's face weaved back into stoniness. "You all think you're so special. But really, you're just like everyone else."

The whole table gasped.

"I'm see no reason to prove myself to people I don't care about. Therefore," Karma continued, straightening his back, "you have nothing to offer me."

In front of the whole school, he turned away from the A Class, walking toward the wide-eyed blunette waiting near the cafeteria doors. He'd watched the whole thing.

Asano's words were like venom when they flew out. "And you think that _he_ does?"

Karma's eyes met Nagisa's. The smallest of smiles flickered over the red-head's lips. "Yeah. He does."


	22. Chapter 22

They walked out in the sunshine for a while - just the two of them, like it used to be.

Nagisa felt like the worst person in the world. Karma was important to him; it'd been that way since they first became friends. He'd never considered that the same would be true with the red-head, however, and he'd burned with shame on the inside, realizing that he'd let himself be manipulated and left Karma confused and alone.

He opened his mouth to say sorry; but then he caught the red-head's eye, and Karma shook his head. _Leave it, Nagisa,_ he seemed to be saying. _There's nothing to be sorry for._

Nagisa nodded and bowed his head. It was time to start over.

So instead of an apology, the next words he said out loud were: "Do you really think the superhero movies I watch are cheesy?"

Karma's lips twitched. "Of course not."

Nagisa grinned. "Do you want to watch one now?"

"Why not?" the red-head answered with a shrug.

And they made their way to the cinema.


	23. Chapter 23

This was bad.

 _No,_ Asano corrected himself, over and over again. _This is a setback._

Try as he might, however, he couldn't force out the worry that laced his stomach. His father's precious system depended on the student body's reverence of the A Class as much as their superiority over the E Class, and Akabane had just challenged that dynamic. No one had said them to his face yet, but he'd heard the red-head's words being whispered and echoed everywhere.

 _Doesn't care about them._

 _Just like everyone else._

 _Nothing to offer._

Each phrase cut into his chest and pooled dark rage in the adolescent.

One thing was clear: Something had to be done.

Several plans flitted through his mind, and he rejected them almost at once. Asano never had a difficult time crushing anyone before, but unlike them, Akabane had a brain - and a vicious one at that. He couldn't discount that the traitor would figure out the scheme before he had a chance to enact it.

Then something else occurred him, and he smirked.

 _Akabane may have a brain, but he also has a heart._

If they did nothing but cause misfortune in every other aspect, Akabane's actions a few days ago proved that. He was a sucker for defending the pathetic blunette - and every other wimp in the school for that matter, though so few of them ever saw through his admittedly terrifying demeanor.

Asano, who prided himself in having no chinks in his armour, had planned to slowly destroy that part of Akabane when he looked like a potential ally. Now, though, he would use it to his advantage.

He wasn't foolish enough to strike at Shiota again directly; Akabane would know it was him in an instant. But if what he planned work - and it would - the blunette would be punished too, with no one to help him with his already-slipping grades. All it'd take for Asano was to call on a senior who owed him a favour, arrange a spectacle in the right place at the right time, and then watch the beauty unfold as the two who'd caused him so much trouble rapidly crashed to the bottom. See if their friendship would survive _that_.

Revenge was going to be sweet.


	24. Epilogue

The afternoon was warm and golden, and rays of sunlight streamed inside the diner. The two occupants at the window-seat, one with red hair and one with blue, enjoyed the full benefits of it as they ate their lunches and talked.

Nagisa closed his notebook. "That's all I really have to so far with Korosensei."

"All of it?" Karma's tone was teasing. "I'm disappointed, Nagisa. I thought you'd have a lot more scandalous details in there."

On the outside, everything had changed. Both of them had fallen into the infamous and presumably hopeless E Class. Nagisa was once again back at the receiving end of bullies' hurtful remarks, if not attacks, and the once star student Karma Akabane was just days back from his humiliating suspension.

A closer look, though, painted a different picture. They were having lunch together, same as they've done for the majority of the past three years, and the unconditional acceptance they both felt and gave hadn't yet changed.

Nagisa gave Karma a wry smile. "I'm not sure I want to give you any more details, after what you did with what I gave you last time."

"What, jumping to my death?"

"Yes!"

Karma sipped his strawberry juice. "That's the pot calling the kettle back."

"What does that mean?"

"It's an English expression, and it means," he said, his eyes turning serious, "you shouldn't strap a bomb to yourself and risk your life just because someone says so."

Nagisa bit his lip. "You heard about that, huh?"

"Yeah. Listen, I'm sorry I haven't been there for-"

"You don't have to be sorry, Karma," Nagisa said quickly. "It wasn't your fault. It was a bad time, that's all, but Korosensei made it a lot better. And hey, you're here now."

"True," the red-head said, returning the blunette's smile. "So, enough about the octopus. How have you been in my torturously long absence? Inconsolable, I'm sure."

The two misfits talked and talked until the blue sky outside turned dark, and the sun was replaced by the forever crescent-shaped moon. The diner's owner had to chase them out when closing time came; but who could blame them, really? They were old friends, after all.

And they had a lot of catching up to do.


End file.
